Bill Vaughan
"An optimist stays up until midnight to see the New Year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves."
Byron
"A realist gets up on New Year's day grateful for that opportunity, knowing that there is much to do"

The past few years we have worked hard to put meaningful thoughts together for New Year's resolutions. It truly is amazing what level of personal growth this small business has allowed us to reach for. So follow us over the fold for our 2010 New Year's Resolution and visit us at our Cape Cod Bed and Breakfast

And; our wish for you and yours is a safe and fulfilling 2010.

We would love to share our New Year's resolution as it was a major point of discussion at our family dinner on Christmas day. We were blessed this year to have everyone home with a fun new twist since two of our children have moved back with us for the winter, planning to relocate to the east. We could not be more delighted!

Donna,
I always love the end of a meal when everyone is so full and we just sit around the table talking. It's an extra special time for Byron and I since our kids are adults now and it's fun to have life discussions as a family. So this year one of the kids asked about everyones New Year's resolutions. I had been thinking about mine for weeks and was actually surprised at their reaction. For years, mine has always been the same.......to loose weight, get more exercise and to be healthy. I am proud to say that I finally have this one in order since I have been able in the last few years to finally balance my weight and actually have only one size of clothes in our closet. ( that actually was a must since as innkeepers we never have enough storage or private space) This year I wanted to have a new resolution and decided to add a concept that actually I had been aware of and discussing with my husband on a daily basis.....to be cognizant of the power of words in our daily communication. Being a woman of 50+ (and hopefully wiser) I have stopped to think about what I say in my communication with my Mom (who is a stern New England lady and given her health complications this year has been slightly less than cheerful , our guests (the importance of always talking in the positive), our children (they are adults now and it's usually best to just listen then to give advise) and lastly our spouses ( I still do not have that one figured out).

Our children's reaction to my new resolution was precious....they all said whohhh Mom ...."that is deep!. I couldn't quite decide if that was a compliment or they thought the whole thing was silly. As for me it feels right and I have decided to move forward with this idea for the year.

Byron,
As innkeepers, Donna and I continue to lovingly perfect that part of our nature that is gracious, giving, and hospitable. For this opportunity to touch people's lives we are sincerely grateful. My resolution last year was to focus on connecting with the past in meaningful ways, since my career had kept me on the move and I had left so many people and friends behind. I was able to jump onto the social networks such as Facebook, Linked In, and Classmates in order to connect with people from high school, through college and then onto various stages of my career. This was not in any way associated with the inn and inn keeping and that resolution worked out well and will continue. This year's resolution had its genesis in the photography I had been doing the last several years. I realized that my photographs are getting technically better and even once in a while are interesting in that they are not typical and have a uniqueness to them. This year's goal is to start learning how to see the world more through an artists eyes and I have several strategies for doing that; I want to explore and blog on the art galleries on Cape Cod, I want to do black and white photographs that have an expressionistic and / or surreal aspect to them that can tell a different story about Cape Cod,and finally I want to escape the corrosive nature of or current political environment by focusing on the beauty of nature here on Cape Cod. As with last year's resolution, this is meant to be a "forever" project.

April & Nathan
It was precious to move around the table and to hear everyone's resolutions for the year. Our children felt comfortable with setting meaningful thought. Our precious son Nathan who has been through some tough times in life has asked us for help in starting anew and has set a long term goal to acquire a medical degree. His actions, attitude are now congruent with his capabilities and this is exciting. Our daughter, April, just graduated from architectural school in May and left Houston with a contract to design a green environment for the architectural firm she worked for. Her goal is to get a new job in Boston and continue to pursue additional levels of LEED (green architecture) certification. Our comments about and to her are that her future is very green.